I said if you wanted to take action in order to help Katrina victims, donate to the American Red Cross. I realize now it isn't so simple. For some of us, there is something deep inside that says,"I want to help! No, I really want to help!" It first hit me yesterday when I read Tommy's post telling us how he and his family helped Katrina victims. It knocked me on my butt today when I heard my daughter Victoria say:

"You know Dad, some of us want to just jump in there and get our hands dirty. We want to help."

No monetary donation will quench that thirst. Well, Vickie found a way to just jump in there. Please allow a proud Dad to tell how.

Vickie decided to call back Chris, the gentleman who had called her at the American Red Cross in search of help. Chris is in the Cleveland area with his parents and wife Kimberly - from New Orleans. Vickie wanted to find out if they needed help finding jobs. They did. So she put out a mass e-mail to her own personal network. In addition to her close friends, Vickie's network permeates Cleveland's media, major non-profit charities and executives of some of Northeastern Ohio's leading advertising agencies. It wasn't long before some of these folks started forwarding Vickie's request out into their own networks, multiplying like a Malcolm Gladwell experiment on steroids. Soon the calls and e-mails began coming back to her.

The passion within this correspondence has touched Vickie deeply. People want to do something. They want to help. One company called with the ability to hire on ten or twelve people. This is human spirit, American human spirit, at its finest. I have to tell you, I am getting goose bumps right now thinking about it!

I came across this request for help and turned Vickie on to it. Through her networking efforts, she is now in position to connect those Katrina victims who end up in Northeastern Ohio and in need of jobs, to those people and companies who need to help.

Big Request

If you know anyone that has made their way from the storm savaged South to the Northeastern Ohio area and is need of employment, please drop me an e-mail and I'll hook them up with Vickie. Thank you and please feel free to forward this to anyone else who you think might know someone in need.

Vickie was telling me later that she thought maybe destiny was playing a hand in her trying to help. I asked if she meant because of her networking skills. She said, "yeah, but there is something else I just discovered. It turns out that Kimberly went to Kent State University the same time as I did and we graduated the same year."

The only thing more uplifting than creativity is when it is used to help someone out. In this case an entire family.

Tommy D., author of the Sticks of Fire blog and his family, helped out a family that escaped Katrina's devastation. As you will read, the Hassan's, a family from Wesley Chapel actually took in the family in need. Tommy's story shows ingenuity and a whole lot of caring.

There is so much else going on out there (to help Katrina victims) than what we are seeing on CNN and MSNBC. Even though Katrina stories might not fit into the theme of some blogs, I think as Americans, us bloggers have a responsibility to tell the world of the kind gestures coming from folks like Tommy, his family and the Hassan's!

The Interdictor is a blog detailing first hand accounts of Katrina's devastation in New Orleans. It is real. From the beginning of the storm, a small group of Directnic.com employees set up camp in a data center located on about the 10th or 11th story of a downtown office building. The address is 650 Poydras if you wish to do a Google satellite search.

When linking to this blog, begin reading on Monday, August 29. The narrator is ex military. The combination of his genuine concern for humanity and his Special Ops background make this story-in-progress one of the most real portrayals of what is actually happening. The CEO of Directnic is one of this group and from what I can tell, is responsible for the photographs they are posting.

They also have a couple of live webcams going.

It is apparent that this group never set out to capture the tremendous audience they now have gained. It is inevitable in time to come; their story will permeate the entire nation. This is the power of blogging... in the hands of real Americans...for the benefits of others!

Here is an update (from the narrator) on the individuals this team is comprised of:

Attention
I want to make sure that everyone knows I am part of a team. I am not
in this myself. I seem to be getting most of the attention for the
success we've had here, but I don't think that's really fair to the
other guys. I think because I'm the one keeping the blog people are
getting the wrong impression. Here are the people who are up here and
what their responsibilities are:

Sigmund Solares, CEO: Sigmund is one of the owners of Directnic. He is on site because Team SOTI needs a guy on the spot who can make command level decisions during an emergency.